Every so often, a Minecraft map comes along and raises the bar for all of the others. The creators of We are the Rangers have created an open world adventure, complete with quests, a fast travel system, and, using resource packs, tons of new animals. Learn about wildlife conservation, bring poachers to justice, and immerse yourself in the sounds of the savanna.

No, this map isn’t a Spanish map involving cats (though that sounds like an interesting idea). G.A.T.O.S. stands for Get At The Other Side, and this series of building and crafting challenges present you with a simple objective: using the given resources, build, run, and jump your way across the gap.

In this veggie-based minigame, your goal is to raid the farm’s field for as many carrots as you can carry. Grab powerups for a variety of effects, from collecting nearby dropped carrots, to making your opponent levitate for a few moments. The first player to hit the goal number of carrots wins!

There are many skills required in Minecraft, but Replica makes you flex a totally different set of gameplay muscles. In this minigame, you’re shown a reference image, then you recreate that image as quickly as you can. Don’t be the last one to finish!

If you make minigames in Minecraft, picking a theme can get the creative juices flowing, informing decisions about gameplay, level design, and more. In this case, our setting is the Wild West, where you’ve got tricky tumbleweeds to dodge, pesky pigs to catch, and the game lobby is a good ol’ fashioned saloon. Take some time to mosey on down to Western Dodge!

Functioning as sort of a demo reel for wacky features, Don’t Go Insane takes what you know about Minecraft, and tosses most of it out. Are those stairs, or the way forward? Am I going straight, or up? Why do these red blocks kill me?! With a fresh style and interesting gameplay, this map should both challenge adventurers and inspire mapmakers.

Realms players have long asked for some worthy puzzle challenges, and that’s here now with Oscilight: The Light Shadow. This is a singleplayer challenge, packed full of light-themed puzzles. Prepare yourself for a challenge, as the difficulty ramps up quickly and will leave you scratching your head for answers!

A fresh start

The world spawns in Realms are designed to give experienced players a fun and different way to start their survival worlds. Here’s three that we think are pretty great!